This page is part of The Australian Constitutional Information Site

The Head of State Issue (the "Republic Debate")

What the people want (direct election!)
The 3-way debate (the main organisations)
My own ideas
Some other ideas
Links

Evidence of What the People Want to Happen

What the People Want, What They Really Really Want - my analysis of the Australian Constitutional Referendum Study, a large survey (3431 responses) done by some political scientists in late 1999, just after the republic referendum. And the short answer is - they want to directly elect the President. 55% have that as their first preference, and another 15% would accept it as second-best rather than keeping the status quo. [Compare that with the model that Howard and the ARM foisted on us in 1999 - only 20% really wanted it and another 24% were prepared to accept it as second-best. So it was voted down. Of course. Doomed from the start.]

But nevertheless the debate goes on....

The 3-Way Argument - Republic or Not, and if so What Kind?

A republic where the Parliament selects the President:

The majority of federal politicans still seem to want a republic where the members of Parliament (ie, themselves and nobody else - surprise, surprise!) select the President, and they're supported by a few academics and others who mistrust the People, but I know of no formal organisation or web site that is presenting arguments for this alternative at present. [If you know of one, please advise by email.]

Some sort of republic but not quite sure what:

The Australian Republican Movement - most of its recent publications concentrate on ridiculing the royal family and former Governor-General (too easy!), but since the defeat of the referendum proposal in 1999 there's not much on their site about what they'd like to replace the monarchy with.
They put six alternative models up on the site a couple of years ago and this year's vote shows a majority for a "people nominate, PM chooses and Parliament appoints" model (not unlike the one that was rejected in 1999), which shows either that public opinion has evolved over the last couple of years or (much more likely) that only those who are still out of touch with what the majority of the Australian people want (direct election - see below) still take the ARM seriously enough to bother to vote on its site. (Sorry, guys - I'm a member but I really cannot take the organisation seriously!)

A Republic Where the People Elect the President Directly:

The "Real" Republicans (Clem Jones, Phil Cleary and co) campaigned with the monarchists for a "no" vote in 1999 and played a very successful spoiling role. Now hoping to play a more positive role and possibly take the lead in advocating a republic. Have advised me that their website will be revamped in the new year.
The Republican Party of Australia, who said "Vote yes, but write in PEP" (for Popular Election of the President) in 1999, but have now got fed up with the parliamentary-selection model and say give the people what they really really want (as to what that is, see below).
A Just Republic, successors to the "Yes And More Coalition" who would mostly prefer a directly elected President, but were prepared to campaign for Yes in 1999, and want broader Constitutional reform than a mere change to the Head of State.
Republic Now!, who say (correctly) that it is clear that a majority of Australians want a republic with a directly-elected President, so let's just do it - and also advocate "maximalist" reforms to the Constitution (which might complicate the "just doing it" a bit).

The Monarchists

Australians for Constitutional Monarchy and their allies
The Australian Monarchist League

My Own Ideas

Why a Republic? Not just to show our independence from Britain, but because having a hereditary "ruler" is a totally undemocratic idea.
Why Direct Election, and Reasons Not to Get Hysterical About It - because all the arguments against direct election are hysterical. Direct election works in other places (I give details of four countries where it works just fine), and it can work here, and the majority want it - but it would help if we did some serious...
Thinking About the Drafting In particular, it would be stupid to say (as all the ARM's 6 models say), "executive power is vested in the President". We can do better, and studying how it has been done overseas could give us some ideas.
And then we could think even more about the drafting. A republic isn't just about replacing the Queen with an Australian President - it's also about making it clearer that We the People are the sovereign and politicians are public servants. For some of my ideas on the drafting of a better Constitution for an Australian republic ,see Constitutional Alterations for a Real Republic, my site from when I was running for election to the Constitutional Convention.
My submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee re its Inquiry into an Australian Republic - summarising much of the above (displayed here by permission of the Committee, since they had too many submissions to display them all on their own server).

Some other ideas

Ross Garrad's "Democratic Alternative"
The Foundation for National Renewal's Model Constitution

Links to other sites

The Australian Republic Issue; a Guide by Stephen Souters - neat and comprehensive table linking to specific articles on the issue.
The republic page on Bryan Palmer's Oz Politics site
A republic page on David Moss's Australian Politics Resource site. (Parked on Geocities while he looks for a permanent server - so it may move again.)

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Written by John Pyke, with a little help from DiDa!. Last edited 10th May 2004.